Truth and Justice and Righteousness: Mandatory Christian Values

There are several prominent themes in Prophecy. One of those themes is the responsibility of God’s people to carry forth truth and justice and righteousness (Jeremiah 4:2).

In our culture today, these words often take on meaning that is not consistent with the biblical text so we often struggle to understand them – and, in fact, reject them. Truth and justice especially ring differently when we identify them with American woke culture. But gaining an understanding of these words from the perspective of God’s word is essential if we are to truly follow Jesus.

Truth

All three of these words describe God, with whom we have an intimate relationship. Jesus declared that he was the truth!

Truth is the nature of God. In him is nothing false! His word is truth. The principles of his creation are truth. His plan is truth. Any other way is a lie – what Jesus called the native language of the devil. Contradictions to God’s word are not truth.

The truth of God’s word must be carefully handled. Too often, we selectively quote the Bible to support our views and opinions. We are willing to ignore context so we can be right. Every scripture must be understood in its immediate context, in the context of the book it is written in, the context of that culture and in the context of the entire Bible. This means that we must be studious in our approach to scripture. It also means we will find that we are sometimes rebuked and corrected by scripture (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

Justice

Justice is a prominent theme in the Bible. God is just and his justice is perfect. God does not judge by outward appearance but by the heart.

To be just means we are fair. We are not prejudiced or bigoted. Justice is not determined nor influenced by age, gender, wealth, power, religious affiliation, race, language or culture. What is right (truth) is universal just as what is wrong. To be just requires the help of God.

No matter how much we may protest, we are all subject to be influenced by one of those things I listed above. We tend to favor those who are most like we are. And we live in a culture that vilifies certain groups of people. You can easily and quickly make a list of various groups of people that are viewed negatively. When we do this, we are abandoning the justice of the Bible.

To act justly requires conscientious effort as well as a willingness to abandon what some groups –  religious, civic or political – consider justice. The only true measure of justice comes from God.  

Righteousness

God is righteous.

When we consider righteousness, we look at two important aspects to fully describe it.

First, there is righteousness of conduct – moral or ethical righteousness. This means we act in accordance with the truth, in obedience to God – always doing the right thing in his eyes. This ideally extends to not only what we do but what we say and what we think. Because of our humanness, we all fall short of perfect righteousness. However, we don’t use that as an excuse but continually strive to live in a righteous way with the help of the Holy Spirit

Second, there is righteousness of relationship. Righteous conduct happens because we are in right relationship with God. This righteousness allows us to perceive his will and act accordingly. When our relationship with God is not righteous, we cannot be righteous.

God makes this righteousness possible through his grace and our faith. When we surrender to him, we enter into this righteousness.

Step back

Now that we know what truth, justice and righteousness mean, we must be honest with ourselves to judge our own lives. Have we lived in accordance with these important qualities? Remember, to allow other influences to change the meaning or application of any of these truths is to stray from the word of God.

In order to judge our own lives, we must slow down, pray, meditate, learn God’s word, confess and repent. God continually shapes our lives and helps us grow in all of these areas. We never arrive at completeness or perfection. Humbly seeking God will help us live lives of truth, justice and righteousness.